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NOVEMBER & DECEMBER NEWS Fall is always an enjoyable time of year with Week-end High School and College football games (Go Sooners!), afternoons at the parks, and working around the home preparing for Winter. The weather is usually nice enough here in Oklahoma to be outdoors in shorts and T-shirt. Halloween gets the kids excited and you see candy at every turn. Our employees keep bringing bowls of candy to work and we wish they would STOP! (we hope they read this.) Being an election year, and with the financial markets doing flips and twists, there seems to be a tension in the air not normally felt. Being able to take your pride and joy Porsche out for a Fall Drive, Driver Ed, or perhaps a Club Race, can break that tension, not to mention reading HorsePower Talk! It's been a long three months since our last issue and we apologize for that. We are trying to keep it a bi-monthly product, but running the day to day operations of our growing business and keeping everybody happy is our number one priority. Although we feel it's important to let our customers know what we're doing, and what's coming down the pipeline, there shouldn't be any harm in being a little late, unless you ran out of something to read and are having withdrawals. There is more that goes into this letter than is visible on the surface. We actually have to stop, think, and figure out how to best convey our ideas and thoughts to you while at the same time keeping things interesting and informative. We hope you walk away with a little more knowledge and the knowing that Lindsey Racing is always trying to better itself and it's products for it's customers. This issue you should enjoy seeing part 2 on Eric's awesome car. Since it's been three months since the last issue, we have an added bonus for you with a 2nd customer car of the month. Ira Rosner's beautifully done blue and orange "GULF" look-a-like '86 951.
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER SPECIALSFor the months of November and December we are offering the following special pricing for our retail customers only. Specials may apply to one or both months. Other discounts and programs do not apply and cannot be combined. You must request the special pricing at time of ordering. The shopping cart does not recognize our specials and will NOT automatically give you the special pricing. You MUST either send us a follow up Email immediately after ordering through the shopping cart or International Order Form, or give us a telephone call and ask for your special pricing. If you order by phone, you MUST mention the special pricing at time of order. If you contact us after the order is shipped and request the special pricing, it will be too late to receive it.
Every car needs a good tune up. Unlike the old days of setting the dwell and ignition timing, all you need to do is change a few parts. Our Tune-Up Kits are on sale this month for 10% off regular price!
Our Balance Shaft Delete Kits seem to get more popular every month. With that in mind, we built extras and are offering a 10% discount both this November and December!
The Lindsey Racing Breather Tanks are going to be even more popular this November at 10% off regular price. Our new tanks have a full 1" line!!
With the recent farming out of our Replacement Engine Harnesses, we have been able to bring the pricing down. It's going down even further when your purchase 2 or more. When you combine 2 parts, you get 10% off. Add a third part and you get 15% off. November and December!
The Lindsey Racing Solid Transmission Mount is 15% off regular price this November and December.
NOVEMBER CUSTOMER CAR OF THE MONTHEric Andkjar's 3.0L 944 TurboPart 2 of a 2 part feature. Part 1 was in the previous issue! See Archives for August 2008 issue. Eric managed to get the car to Watkins Glenn while the weather was still nice this year. Eric isn't new to driving, just new to the 944 Turbo. While still breaking the car in, simply bolting on the suspension and putting the sway bars and suspension kit in the middle adjustment positions and not touching them since, and only running 15 psi of boost, he still managed to run 4 seconds a lap faster than he ever had before at that track in his 911. All the while his first time driving a 944! Once he gets some seat time, dials in the suspension, and turns up the boost, he will have one rocket ship of a car. From the last issue, you can see much more of the engine compartment come together. The body is completed with the GTR front bumper and the massive rear wing. The interior looks very serious and clean.
ENGINE MODS:
Lindsey Racing Built Dry Sumped 3.0L
Ohlins Triple Adjustable Suspension Kit BRAKE MODS:
Lindsey Racing Big Brake Kit
DECEMBER CUSTOMER CAR OF THE MONTHIra Rosners's '86 "GULF" 944 Turbo
ENGINE MODS: 2.5 L Lindsey Racing build. 295 Rear Wheel HP/ 302 lbs/ft torque
Lindsey Racing Custom J&E 8.5:1 /100.5 mm Pistons CHASSIS MODS:
Charley Arms Recent letter from Ira to Lindsey Racing: Mike, I thought you would like to know that I just returned from two days of racing at Daytona where my 944T with your engine exceeded 170 mph! The engine performed flawlessly in nearly 5 hours of running on the 24 Hour road course. A lap of that course involves two segments on the oval, with one at about 35 seconds of full throttle and the other of 45 seconds. Amazingly, the water temp and oil pressure looked no different than when I used to drive the car stock on the highway. Moreover, oil consumption is virtually nil and we get very little oil from the separator bottle, perhaps 1/2 a ounce after two hours of running. I also have a new respect for the Nascar guys. Those banked turns don't look that wide when you are running north of 150 mph. I hope all is well with you and Dave, and thanks again for all your efforts to build the engine. Regards, Ira Rosner
SHOP TALKNew 944 2.5L Block MLS Cometic Gasket -As some of you already know, we recently were involved with helping Cometic produce a better version of their Multi Layer System (MLS) head gasket for the 2.5L block. Come to find out, the gasket they have offered for years was actually a 928 8v head gasket adapted for a 944 as well. A sturdy gasket but some didn't have such good luck with it. The problem being leaking engine coolant. We have been selling the Cometic 3 layer gaskets for a few years now. We have heard all the rumors about leaking. We tell people when asked it's a 50/50 chance whether or not you're going to have a problem even if you have a freshly machined cylinder head and block surface. When we had a couple of them leak on us, we attempted to understand why. Well, we figured it out. The gasket they offer for the 2.5L is actually perfect for an 8v 928 engine and not so perfect for the 2.5L 944s. There is a bolt in the water passage near the front of the head in a different location on a 928 than the 944/951 8v. They attempted to make the gasket work for both. Problem is when they do their compression grove (like a bead roll but done in a stamping tool) around that 928 bolt, it actually pushes the compression grove off the edge of the head and block on a 944/951. Just barely, but enough to not compress the compression grove satisfactorily in our opinion and allow it to leak. When we told them about this, they understood and agreed to build a new tool specifically for the 944/951 gasket. They sent us a clear Mylar sheet with a line drawing of the gasket on it so we could place it on a block and view the profiles and offer our advice on compression grove location and any other suggestions. It took a couple months of continuous prodding, but now they have a new tool! Not only does it have the compression grove in the water passage at the front of the head where we feel it should be, but it has them around each head stud. That little unusual arc that everybody asks about in the gasket is also gone. That was for a dowel pin exclusive on the 928 in that location. This problem does not exist on the 104mm block gasket for the 944S2, 968 or '89 2.7L 944. We hope this is a final fix for Cometic and allows us to sell and use them with more confidence. We currently stock the following sizes but will be adding more thickness' and bores to the 104mm block gasket line up. Some are 3 layer, and some are 5 layer.
One decision that needs to be made when building an engine is the compression ratio. Do you want to give your 2.5L a little more pre-boost grunt to get you out of a corner quicker? Reduce lag with the bigger turbo? Maybe you want to drop the compression and run much higher boost? Although Porsche specs the 944 Turbo as 8.0:1, we think there is a 1 in 4 chance that's what it actually is. We make that statement because we see the actual 8 valve cylinder head combustion chamber volume vary from 56 to 62cc. Usually in steps of 2cc's or 56, 58, 60 and 62cc's. This has a significant effect on the final compression ratio. If Porsche used more than one piston bowl size, then that throws yet another wrench into the calculation and end result. This means in order to calculate the compression ratio, we have to measure the cylinder head combustion chamber volume, the piston bowl volume, figure in the piston diameter, crankshaft stroke and head gasket thickness. The following charts show compression ratios you get when using different combinations of cranks, pistons, heads and gaskets. Popular combinations that come into play building a 944T 8v head motor. The standard 944/951 gasket is .040" thick. That includes the Wide Fire ring gasket. The charts below include that thickness as well as the other thickness gaskets we carry.
2.5L - 100mm Bore / 78.9mm Stroke
2.8L - 100mm Bore / 87.8mm Stroke
3.0L - 104mm Bore / 87.8mm Stroke
4 Port Vacuum Bolt -
When plumbing the vacuum lines on your 944 Turbo, you soon discover that Porsche put a lot of Ts in the vacuum lines since they have more vacuum devices than they do places to attach them to on the intake manifold. If you have a Turbo S model, you have two banjo bolts and three fittings. One is already dedicated by the clear plastic hose going to the KLR leaving two for everything else. On an '86-'88 Non Turbo S model, you only have one banjo bolt using two fittings and one of them is once again taken by the KLR. Either way, more fittings would be nice so you could run a cleaner vacuum line configuration and run dedicated hoses to important devices such as the bypass valve and fuel regulator. Our solution was to produce a new Banjo Bolt that had 4 ports for vacuum lines.
This new bolt is custom made by Lindsey Racing. It is the same look and style as the stock bolts, uses the same hose fittings, only longer than the factory bolts. Dry Sump Kit Status -
Our Dry Sump Kit for the 944/968 is for the most part complete. We initially produced parts for 10 kits less the pump. All we lack at this point is testing the pump to make sure we have the proper oil flow volume, oil pressure and crank case vacuum. We will be fitting a kit to our engine dyno's 2.5L engine for final testing. If we need to have our dry sump manufacturer adjust the internal specs on the pump to achieve better target values, we will have them do so and re-test and verify. As soon as we are confident with the pumps performance, our kit will be officially released. In the mean time, we will fill out the web page with more information, pictures and pricing. Our pricing will not include hoses and fittings (with a few exceptions) or a sump tank. There are plenty of suppliers out there producing tanks and fittings so we will leave that to the customer. If you're wanting a kit now because you're building your engine and/or car, and wish to start receiving parts right away, then we can sell you a kit today. You just need to be willing to wait on the final spec pump. Level 4, 5 & 5+ Heads - Lindsey Racing is now releasing their Level 4, Level 5 and Level 5+ 8v 944 and 944 Turbo cylinder heads. The Level 4 is essentially the same as our Level 3 only utilizing 7mm valve stems versus the 11/32" intake and 9mm exhaust currently used on the Level 3. The larger than stock intake valve is still a 1.880" diameter (47.7mm) like the stage 3. So think of the Level 4 head as a Level 3 with lighter valves. Since we change the exhaust valve as well as the intake, the price on the head is higher, but only slightly. It will require you to use new Lindsey Racing Valve Springs. Smaller valve stems means lighter valves. Lighter valves means quicker revving engines and it's easier on your valve springs having to move less mass so they will last longer. Smaller valve stems do not always translate into more flow. When you go with a smaller stem, you usually decrease the radius on the back of the valve. Air flow likes a big radius. The Level 5 cylinder heads will be offered with two different intake valve size choices. Either a 1.880" diameter (47.7mm) valve for 100-101mm bore engines (same as our Level 3 and 4), and a larger 2.0" (50.8mm) for 104mm and larger bore engines. The 2.0" valved head will be our Level 5+. Either valve size of the Level 5 heads comes with upgraded Beryllium Copper valve seats. Our flow testing has shown that you don't gain from using a 2.0" valve over the 1.880" on a 100-101mm bore cylinder. The valve is too close to the cylinder wall and it's shrouded in and the flow is not improved. So you're wasting your money on the larger valve. On a 104mm or larger cylinder the flow is increased using the 2.0" valve. Money well spent. These pictures display the re-profiled combustion chamber in the Level 5 head showing off the 2.0" 7mm intake valves and the Beryllium Copper valve seats.
As usual, we provide our flow numbers. Ever wonder why the competition doesn't? You can bet if they flowed the same or more, they would be touting it. In addition, we would get our hands on one and verify their results fairly. We have yet to see another head flow what ours does. Not even close. A head that looks pretty doesn't mean it's shaped right. The chart below is our advertised flow numbers on our Level 5+ Head (2.0" valve) on a 104mm bore.
This pictures shows a stock 944/951 Intake valve resting on top of the 2" valve in the Level 5 head.
Lash Caps & Solid Lifter Kit - With approximately 60 Solid Lifter conversions behind us, it has proved to be an area of the engine that our customers are very interested in upgrading. Moving away from the heavy, problematic, and cam profile limiting hydraulic lifters was our original goal. Having 4 years experience we feel that we have the system down pat. Especially with the introduction of our new lash caps for adjusting valve clearance and our recently introduced metal camshaft tower gasket. One of the first problems we encountered was the inconsistency of the paper camshaft tower to cylinder head gasket. The thickness of that gasket varied from supplier to supplier and even with the same manufacturer. We also found that by torqueing the cam box to the head one time to the next could give you a different lash value. When targeting a cold lash of .003", we wanted to make sure when the assembly went on to stay, or we shipped the parts to a customer to assemble, our set-up would be repeatable and the customer simply had to assemble and torque to our specifications to achieve the same set-up and lash as we did on our work bench. Having our Rubber Coated Stainless Steel camshaft tower gasket made a huge improvement in this area. Another bonus is that the gasket is re-usable so you install the exact same gasket we used during our bench set-up. You can simply wash the gasket with soap and water and re-use it over and over again. Having control over the consistency of the thickness and the fact that it doesn't compress like the paper gasket made the perfect gasket for this job. Up until now, our valve lash was adjusted by installing a different thickness lash cap on the tip of the valve. This is a practice used by others as well. The solid lifter we utilize has a center pin protruding down from the top of the lifter that rides on this lash cap. Changing the thickness of the lash cap allows us to set the clearance or "lash" we want between the backside or base circle of the cam and the lifter. We have had to obtain these different thickness lash caps for each valve stem diameter we used. We have 10 standard size lash caps in .001" increments and occasionally custom grind others if needed. Having 9mm and 11/32" valves, that meant 20 parts to stock with quantities of each. Being a custom made part, you had to plan ahead and keep inventories on hand. Now with the introduction of our Level 4 and Level 5 cylinders head using 7mm valve stems, that would be another group of parts to carry. That would now mean we have 30 valve lash cap sizes to stock. Talking with one of our customers while doing his engine build, the idea of a new lash cap design was discussed and decided upon. It seemed the perfect solution to our ever growing varying valve sizes and gave us some other meaningful benefits at the same time. One thing about putting a lash cap on the tip of the valve is the end of the valve needs to cut properly without a sharp radius not to mention at the exact length. This insures that the lash cap would sit down completely on the valve and not just in the corners or radius. In addition, there is only so much length from the valve keepers to the tip of the valve limiting the "capture" or amount of distance the parts overlapped. This is about .100" in most cases unless you used longer custom valves to try to gain capture. But it's still limiting as to what you could reasonably achieve. What we decided to produce was a new lash cap that is no longer installed on the valve, but rather installed on the solid lifter pin. The lifter is a part already manufactured to our tolerances and dimensions. That pin diameter is the same on all lifters so this eliminates any cares about valve stem diameters. This also gave us the ability to make the capture length anything we wanted up to 3/4 of an inch. We settled for .350" of capture. Why so much? In the event of a severe back fire, missed shift, over rev, or anything that may cause valve float, this extra capture will help from spitting out a lash cap. The picture below shows the previous style lash cap that attaches on the valve tip (left), and the new design that attaches to the lifters pin (right).
This new lash cap, even though much longer, is less than 1 gram heavier than our previous lash cap. Picture shows Previous Lash Cap on the end of the valve.
With the introduction of this new lash cap and the cam tower gasket, we feel we have the system down to where we are comfortable selling it so that the customer's machinist can complete the job trouble free. Their most important job is to get the specified valve height correct. Pictures show lifter with and without new style lash cap in place.
Look for the kit to be available on our web site very soon. Of course you can still have Lindsey Racing perform all the work! Then you just bolt things together. This picture shows all 8 lifters in place with the new lash caps. (Click to enlarge)
NEW PAGES, PRODUCTS & DRAWINGS @ LINDSEYRACING.COMWe are continually doing things to improve and grow www.lindseyracing.com, adding new pages of product as well as new and exciting information to current pages. Since the site is always growing, we thought it would be beneficial to share some of the "CHANGES" with you in this new section of our newsletter. Otherwise, who knows how long it may take to discover them.
CAMSHAFT MISC Page Update FINAL THOUGHTS Today is November 4th, election day here in the United States. You get the chance to vote and choose a candidate or party you believe in or what they stand for. We hope you had the opportunity to do so today. Every time you make a purchase from Lindsey Racing, we feel like you're placing a vote for us, knowing we are not the only choice out there. Thanks for your vote! Until next issue, we wish you many safe and quick laps. - The Lindsey Racing Crew |
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